Railway cross-tie.



No. 638,054. Patented Nov. 28, I899.

' 0. M. KNOX.

RAILWAY CROSS'TIE.

(Application flied Apr. 30, 1898.)

(No Model.)

R Y m E 3% my. z w Z A M E C N. T

UNITED STATES PATENT UFFICE.

ORVILLE M. KNOX, or ONEIDA, NEW YORK.

RAILWAY CROSS-TIE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 638,054, dated November 28, 1899.

Application filed April 30, 1898. Serial No. 679,283. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ORVILLE M. KNOX, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Oneida, in the county of Madison, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Railway OrossTies, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

The objects of this invention are, first, to provide a metallic cross-tie which shall be simple in construction and of uniform size and shape throughout its length, and thus easily manufactured by means of suitable rolls in a rolling-mill, and, secondly, to provide such a cross-tie with stays which shall" prevent it from being accidentally shifted on the road-bed and shall stiffen the cross-tie at the center of its length and at the same time form thereat a dam which equalizes the drainage under the cross-tie from the center to opposite ends thereof and which stays shall also permit the cross-tie to lie with its entire length directly upon the road-bed and the ballast to be thoroughly tamped directly under the bottom of the center of the cross-tie, as well as every other portion of its length; and to that end the invention consists of a metallic cross-tie formed with a horizontal bed-plate and reinforced by stays formed separate from the cross-tie and secured to the under side of the cross-tie at the center of its length and formed with vertical webs disposed at right angles to each other and separated from each other at their lower ends, as hereinafter more fully described.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a side View of my improved stays applied to a metallic cross-tie, which is formed with a vertical rib extending lengthwise of the under side of the tie at the center of its width. Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line X X in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an inverted plan view showing my invention applied to a cross-tie formed of a plain fiat metal bar or plate, and Fig. 5 is an end View of the latter tie with the stay applied thereto. M

The reinforcing-stays are formed separate from the cross-tie to allow the latter to be formed by the rolls of a rolling-mill. These stays may be formed either by two pieces secured to the under side of the tie at opposite sides of the longitudinal rib 19, formed on the under side of the tie, as represented in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings, or said stays may be formed in one piece, as shown in Figs. 4: and 5 of the drawings. In either case they consist, essentially, of vertical webs disposed at right angles to each' other and separated from each other at their lower ends to allow the ballast to be thoroughly tamped thereat directly under the tie. The said stays are to be firmly bolted or riveted to the tie at the center of its length to brace the tie central between the rail-seats and to form thereat a transverse dam, which causes the drainage under the tie to be equally distributed from the center to opposite ends of the tie.

When the stays are to be applied to a crosstie having a longitudinal rib b projecting from the under side of the bed-plate a cen* tral of the width thereof, I form said stays of twohorizontal plates 0, each of which has proj ecting down ward from its under side the longitudinal web a and the transverse web 0 said two plates being placed on opposite sides of the rib b and bolted thereto, as shown at d.

When the stays are to be applied to a crosstie consisting simply of the bed-plate a, I form the stays in one piece consisting of a horizontal plate 0 having projecting from its under side the longitudinal webs 0 disposed in line 'with each other, and the transverse webs 0 extending from the junction of said longitudinal webs, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings. In this case the stays are secured to the tie by rivets or bolts t t, passing vertically through the plate 0 and overlying tie a.

What I claim as my invention is- The combination, with the herein-described metallic cross-tie, of metallic stays formed separate from said tie and consisting of longitudinal webs and transverse webs extending from said longitudinal webs, said webs being separate from each other at their lower ends, and rigidly secured to the under side of the tie, central between the rail-seats as set forth and shown.

ORVILLE M. KNOX. 

